This July is the first time the United Nations will review the progress made towards meeting Sustainable Development Goal 15, which is about Life on Land. Each goal will be reviewed about every 4 years until 2030. The reviews will be based on the 10 indicators countries agreed on, that assess change…

Examples from the SPI report The report “Sustainable Land Management contribution to successful land-based climate change adaptation and mitigation” by the UNCCD Science-Policy Interface (SPI) contains several dozen examples of individual sustainable land management (SLM) best practices, categorised…

The UNCCD Science-Policy Interface (SPI) was established in 2013 and promotes dialogue between scientists and policy makers on desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD). The composition of the SPI is designed to provide independent scientific perspective from the full range of disciplines…

The land degradation neutrality (LDN) principles are a set of 19 principles that govern the LDN implementation process. They are designed to ensure that LDN achieves its positive outcomes, while avoiding or minimising the unintended and negative outcomes. They can be considered the foundations of…

The land degradation neutrality (LDN) principles for good governance underpin the whole LDN process and are integral to its overall success. They promote the establishment of mechanisms and policies at the national and sub-national levels that guarantee the long-term sustainability of LDN…

The scientific conceptual framework for land degradation neutrality (LDN) explains the underlying scientific processes and principles that support achievement of LDN and its intended outcomes. The framework provides a scientifically-sound basis to understand and implement LDN, to inform the…

The land degradation neutrality (LDN) model (figure below) illustrates the interrelationships between the major elements of the scientific conceptual framework for LDN. The target at the top expresses the vision of LDN, emphasizing the link between human prosperity and land-based natural capital…

Land is important for human wellbeing, as it provides food, feed and fibre and contributes to regulating the ecosystem services on which the provision of these goods depend. Land is under growing pressure to meet the multiple needs of an increasingly urban and affluent global population, with a…

Neutrality is the aspirational goal of land degradation neutrality (LDN), meaning that there is no net loss of what LDN is intended to maintain, which is the land-based natural capital. No net loss in this context means that land-based natural capital is maintained or enhanced between the start and…

The land degradation neutrality (LDN) conceptual framework applies a neutrality mechanism that is focused pro-actively on planning to achieve no net loss of land-based natural capital, rather than on regulating land degradation. The neutrality mechanism comprises the counterbalancing of anticipated…

The land degradation neutrality (LDN) response hierarchy of Avoid > Reduce > Reverse land degradation (figure below) is an overarching principle for LDN implementation, which guides decision-makers in planning interventions to achieve LDN. The hierarchy articulates which interventions should be…

Achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN) involves identifying and implementing a combination of appropriate interventions to avoid, reduce, or reverse land degradation in each land type, thereby maintaining (or enhancing) land-based natural capital. To achieve LDN, land use decision-makers need…

Land degradation neutrality (LDN) aims to achieve no net loss of land-based natural capital, compared with the baseline. Monitoring achievement of neutrality is based on quantifying the baseline and then assessing the balance between the area of “gains” (significant positive changes/improvements)…

Knowledge and information generated from the land degradation neutrality (LDN) monitoring process contributes to the learning process. Such knowledge can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions in maintaining land-based natural capital (e.g. the outcomes of counterbalancing), to…

The plight of people migrating in the context of environmental degradation, climate change impacts and natural disasters and the potential governance responses to such challenges have received a lot of attention in recent years. So far, the climate diplomacy community has made significant progress…

The checklist is a tool prepared to help country-level project developers and their technical and financial partners to design effective Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Transformative Projects and Programmes. The checklist is optional, not prescriptive. It provides a pragmatic and scientifically…

The Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting Programme (LDN TSP) supports interested countries to define LDN baselines and set voluntary LDN targets. Browse the country reports and/or country commitments to achieve LDN here.

Brazil is synonymous with the Amazon for most people. But Brazil’s vast rainforest and wide rivers have not just captured the imagination of ordinary people. It has also captured donor finances due to the invaluable ecosystem services they provide, ranging from influencing global rainfall patterns…

The SPI produces these reports as part of their work programme objectives: 1. Provide refined guidance of land degradation neutrality; and, 2. Provide guidance to support the adoption and implementation of land-base intervention for drought management and mitigation

“It is my experience that ecological restoration creates jobs, spurs innovation, and offers new opportunities in the green economy.” Ecological restoration of the abandoned Lizard Hill Sand Mine near Ocean City, in Maryland, United States, created a 32-acre mosaic of seepage wetlands (image before…